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Sunday Recap

It's not often that I have the opportunity to be a participant in a worship service. For any worship leader, it is a rare and treasured experience. I planned the service, scheduled the team, created the video elements..no surprises here. In light of that, I was truly attending my church yesterday as a worshiper...and I truly worshiped.

I discovered several things that happened yesterday that I needed to truly connect with God, with others, and to leave the service ready for the day and week.

1. I needed Time to get comfortable. The first 20 minutes as we were singing, I needed that time to get settled in. The music and welcome time gave me the opportunity to speak with several people, to sing, to get my focus on the reason I was there.

2. I needed Time to be quiet. There was an opportunity between two songs and at the end of the song before the video transition to the message. I was able to quiet my thoughts before the message began.

3. I needed to hear Biblical teaching that encouraged me evaluate where I am with God. Todd's message was something I truly needed to hear. Although I may be married to the Pastor, I do not know everything about his sermons each week. This was one of those weeks I had the general idea, but the Holy Spirit definitely spoke through Him in a very real way to me.

4. It was long enough. The service was about 68 minutes. I didn't get distracted. I didn't feel that it was rushed. I was actually wanting more, which is exactly how I wanted to leave...wanting more of God.

It goes without saying that as the Worship Director I listened to the mix, evaluated the screens, the flow of the service...yeah, it was awesome. I do believe that because those things were so excellent and God-focused, it gave such an open door to the worship experience being free of distraction. Thank you, team, for doing just that!

Sunday Recap

The Sunday after Easter can be a tough Sunday to plan.  If you plan services, you probably put it "all out on the field" the week before which leaves a lot less energy and creativity left for "the Sunday after." I've realized this about myself and this year, I made a strategic effort to creatively plan together the series before AND after Easter at the same time. This allowed me to not lose any steam from one week to the next.

Our new series, "Highly Unlikely" started off great last week! It's a four-week series on the life of Moses and how God used him despite everything in his life.

Here was our setlist...

Glory To God Forever

WELCOME/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Marvelous Light

God Is Able

Message Bumper

Message -Todd - "Desperate Beginnings"

Give Me Faith

Closing - Todd

"Give Me Faith" is our theme chorus for this series on Moses. I truly believe it could have been his own personal worship song throughout his life! Christine did an amazing job on it!

I'm so proud of our team. We have gone away from a weekly Thursday rehearsal due to scheduling issues and availability of our team with work and family. We are a volunteer-driven ministry and it is ALWAYS my desire that ministry complement every other aspect of my team's life and not be a burden or obligation that fights the other areas.  This is the first community that I have lived in that work schedules are not the typical 8-5 deal. To have a "required Thursday rehearsal" would eliminate most of my amazing musicians and singers.

However, everybody is really coming in knowing the material and executing at such a high level. There's no doubt that having everything clearly laid out in Planning Center for the team is the ONLY way this could happen. Sure, we have some weeks that we are not as tight as others, but I truly believe the team is doing such a great job and making every effort on the personal preparation side before Sunday. My drummer last week said it's the fear of NOT having the weekly rehearsal before Sunday morning that drives him to know his stuff!

Check out other great recaps of services all over the world here.

Easter Week Recap

I've realized after being a part of almost 20 Easter Week preparations for churches that the key to it NOT being some overwhelming is a word I already mentioned...preparation. Of course, that goes without saying on the programming side of things, but I'm speaking primarily of myself...personal preparation. I made a huge effort this year to prepare myself spiritually from the start of Lent through Easter Weekend. I really enjoyed the YOUVERSION reading plans for Lent and for Easter Week. I'm so thankful for my Bible app! When Sydney saw me reading the Bible on my phone, she asked me when she could have an iPhone to read her Bible...nice try :)

I also did a much better of job of pacing myself with the preparation so that I enjoyed it emotionally and physically. With that said, it paid off. This was one of my FAVORITE Easter week's in my ministry life!

You can check out my service plans here:

Palm Sunday - https://www.planningcenteronline.com/plans/3638187/public

Maundy Thursday - https://www.planningcenteronline.com/plans/3958510/public

• I have not done a piano/vocal worship leading experience since we started HHICC almost five years ago. Since we decided to move our Maundy Thursday experience to a night service and make it a corporate time instead of a self-led time, I felt it was a great opportunity to do something very simple. I truly enjoyed it and I think it was refreshing for our Christ-followers to have that time to relfect on the suffering of Christ.

Community Good Friday 

•   This service is held at  St. Luke's and several other Island churches come together to reflect on the seven last words of Christ over a three hour span. People come and go as needed during this time.  Each Pastor takes a word and then a musician complements that teaching with a song selection. Todd's word was "Today, you will be with me in Paradise." I sang "I Can Only Imagine" as I knew that would be something very familiar to most people. St. Luke's has a beautiful sanctuary and I realy enjoying singing and playing on their beautiful black grand piano. It has become a family tradition for Easter Weekend to be a part of this service.

Easter Weekend Set-up

• We had Classic Party Rentals set-up a tent and chairs on Friday. BP's company, Innavation, provided all the production set-up and got going on Saturday morning. Sound check was at 3. It was a great process!

Soundcheck on Saturday

Easter Sunday - https://www.planningcenteronline.com/plans/3744827/public

• I was so proud of our Guest Services Team on Easter. They REALLY stepped it up. Our new GSD, Dani, is doing such a great job! She had the oppportunity to go to Unleash with me in March and I totally saw the fingerprints of that experience all over our Guest Services Team!

• I can't say enough about our musicians and production team. They make it SUCH a privilege to sing and play every week.  The best part is that we are friends in community together. I feel very blessed to have the team I have here at HHICC. Special shout out to my TD, BP. He's an amazing musician and production leader. He MADE it happen this weekend!

• We saw 15 people become Christ-followers from Palm Sunday to Easter and our attendance was off the charts of 444 adults and kids. Our weather for Easter was TRULY perfect. Cool and breezy - no bugs and it NEVER even felt warm for our "covered environment."

  2nd Service

Family Reflections - Todd and I had some great time with Syd and Sean talking about the entire Easter Week experience.  Sydney became a Christ-follower a couple of years ago, but her faith has started to take root as she matures and understands how God has created her for a purpose and that He loves her so much. We read the entire Easter story from Luke 22-24 on Friday night. She had never heard the story of the couple on the road to Emmaus and thought that was unbelievable that Jesus disappeared right in front of them!

I pray your Easter experience was truly amazing and that you were able to focus your heart and mind around the wonder of the cross and the power of Christ's Resurrection for you!

Reflections for Catalyst One Day

  Todd and I attended Catalyst One Day this past Monday in Atlanta.  I attended the first Catalyst many years ago (you do the math!) and this was my first One Day Event. It was jam packed with so much leadership training in a short period time. Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel did a great job trading off sessions as well as working together in the Q & A time. They are two very effective leaders yet very different. For me, that was the most enjoyable part of the experience...hearing and witnessing their differences as communicators and leaders.  It just affirmed for me how style and personality are what make all of us unique as leaders, however, there are some key ingredients that make a good leader and allow you to truly influence your organization to go to the next level. 

I highly recommed attending one of these Catalyst One Day Events very soon! Here were some of my take-aways straight from my notes and from Andy and Craig.

• "Healthy cultures never happen by accident. They are created."  - CG. This just affirmed for me the importance of intentionality with all my decisions and what I say "yes" to for our organization. "What we value determines what we do."  - CG. If we do an event or start a ministry, it needs to be a direct reflection of our values. Otherwise, we are busy "doing stuff" but not supporting our values as a church.
• "Healthy and productive staff cultures are characterized my mutual submission.  The message of mutual submission... 'I'm here to facilitate your success regardless of where either of us shows up on an organizational chart.' The assumption of mutual submission: while our responsibilities differ, we are both essential to the success of this enterprise." - AS.This was my favorite session. Andy talked about Mark 10:32-46. If we want to be Christ-like leaders, read this passage and realize the importance of serving others as you lead. 
• Craig talked about the importance of self-awareness as a leader. This was a very soul-searching session.  Three things about self awareness...1) We as leaders have a limitless capacity for self-deception. 2) The longer we believe lies, the harder it is to hear the truth. 3) The leader's lack of self-awareness is the leader's greatest barrier.
• Andy's last session on creating a "Come-and-See Culture" was great as a Service Programming Director.  My favorite part was three questions to ask for evaluation of every environment...1) Was the context appealing? 2) Was the presentation engaging? 3) Was the contet helpful?

These were definitely just highlights for me. I left encouraged and challenged as a leader to take my ministry to another level. I also left with a desire to be more introspective at the same time as to my habits and attitudes as a leader.  We ended the day with a Night of Worship from North Point Music.   It was such a great worship experience and such a treat to be led in worship as a participant!  Our night cap was a pre-screening of Blue Like Jazz the Movie. This is a very insighful film. If you loved the book, you will definitely enjoy this movie!

To top the entire day off, we saw SO many friends from all over the Southeast and were able to reconnect with them. I don't think we could have squeezed anymore into one day!

Girl Talk on WHHI-TV

It was a great opportunity to share about HHICC and our new worship record project coming out in August 2012. Thanks, Debbie, for the opportunity! My segment starts around 3:38.

The human element

My poor kids...their mom can be crazy at times. As we watched the Grammy's on Sunday night, I started jumping up and down and shouting, "Come on Dave... you tell them!" and other things that expressed my GREAT pleasure. It was David Grohl's acceptance speech. If you didn't see it, take a moment and watch it here.

I love technology. It's definitely a good time to be alive. But, as David said, "The human element of making music is what's most important."

As a worship leader, I love that we have incorporate elements like loops and the ability to layer instruments with our live musicians. It's a great tool and allows for some great musical moments. However, I will say that one of my favorite worship moments was a few months ago when my Mac Book Pro crashed and we had no click, no loops. Musically, it wasn't the tightest set of songs and we had some improv that wasn't perfect either. However, there was a sense of oneness...the human element...that connected us to that worship set.

The ying and yang of this debate is good. I like the pull that technology and the human element have in their ability to co-exist. However, I fully agree with David..."...learning to do your craft - that's the most important thing..." and we have a responsibility as artists to fully give our craft EVERYTHING we have. As Christ-followers...It's all for HIM!

If you have any thoughts on this, please comment here. I'd love to hear it!

5 years

It was a very cold day on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I had been looking forward to this day for about 3 weeks once the doctor told me. "Sean is coming on February 5." It wasn't the greatest pregnancy and I spent the last four weeks on bedrest. February 5...I couldn't wait!

My baby boy turns five today. It has gone so fast and I know...it just gets faster. Happy Birthday, Bubby. I love your competitive spirit (where did he get that from?) and your desire to learn new things all the time. I love your sweet smile, how you twist your hair, and the way you still like me to give you a "squishy hug." You'll always be my baby boy...I love you...

Doing a Worship Record

We have begun rehearsals for our first worship recording at Hilton Head Island Community Church . It has already been such a huge team building time and has created such a spirit of unity among our musicians.

I've had the privilege of producing several records for churches including a live worship CD and video. However, the way this is coming together has been the best experience I've had in doing this at church. Here's what is working for us:

1) We are doing songs we love and that we know very well. We only have one original song and the rest are songs we love to sing at church. Because these songs are familiar, in a lot of ways, they have morphed into our own arrangements which allows some originality. This has made using all of our musicians a reality because everyone knows the material.

2) We are recording our rehearsals every week. This allows us to listen to our arrangements and tweak. We have broken the record into two parts based on the instrumentation. With four rehearsals scheduled, this gives us two rehearsals for each part of the record which is plenty of time to tweak and perfect our band parts and arrangements. I upload these recordings to Planning Center so everyone can listen and evaluate.

3) We have hired a producer. In the past, I've produced records that I have played and sang on as a musician. This time, I wanted to totally devote my energy to the arrangements, my parts, and to investing in the team experience. It's the best decision I've made! We've hired personal friends of mine that I have worked with before and highly respect from the recording world in Atlanta to produce.

4) We are recording everything at our church. This has greatly reduced the cost of this project. We've blocked out two full days for band tracking and two full days for vocals (three weeks after the band tracking days.) We are limiting overdubs and trying to get the best live take of every song. At this point, based on the rehearsal recordings, we think it will work.

5) We are breaking up the vocals between three worship leaders with BGV's, and yes...choir! I love big vocals on certain songs and I love the simplicity of a lead vocal and one or two background voices. This allows EVERYONE to participate and be a part of the experience.

6) We have been playing with a click track every week on Sundays. Because we do it every week, there is no pressure on the team during the recording process. They are used to it and it has become just a part of our weekly process.

7) We are working on this project during a "slower" part of the year. January and February does not hold a lot of outside pressure for us as a team and so this has been a great time of year to devote to this entire project. We will be done with everything on our part by the last week of February.

I'll be updating you all on our progress as we continue. We are half-way through our rehearsals and I'm already thrilled about how far along we are as a team!

Synergy

We are in the middle of getting ready to renovate a 13,000 square foot warehouse for our future facility at Hilton Head Island Community Church. . My days and nights have been filled with design conversations with the team via email and texts, getting quotes from vendors, facility walk-throughs, and so much more. This is the third time that I have had the privilege to be a part of a new facility project as a church staff member. Every time is unique and exciting, but there are definitely some things I've realized during this design process that I believe make the difference.

1. Build a creative team of people around you who are not afraid to share every idea they have in their mind. Everybody has budget constraints. That is reality. However, if your team is always thinking about that, the "what if" ideas never surface. I've been amazed to see "what if" items turn into doable things because we were able to "tweak" the idea to make it a reality.

2. "There is more than one way to skin a cat." This phrase made popular by Mark Twain is so true. Every team I have worked with has truly always wanted the same thing: to create the best facility possible..to reach the most people we can...to be the best stewards of the resources we have been given by God. However, you have to be willing to see every option, hear every voice on the team, and be willing to be flexible. The goal is never to get everything YOU want. I believe the goal should be to make as many decisions as possible that benefit EVERYONE on the team. This is really hard to do, but the benefits are so worth it.

3. Surround yourself with people that are better at all of this than you. I'm so thankful for the team we have here to do this project. They are creative, professional, and so willing to do whatever it takes to do it right. Most of the team is contributing based on their own professional experience. These are the best people to have on the team! Their knowledge and insight is invaluable.

4. There is no room for ego or marriage to an idea. Everything has to be on the table. There are moments that a project manager has to finally make the call, but if 1-3 are happening, it is usually an easy decision.

I love being a part of a team to accomplish something bigger than ourselves. I love what everyone brings to the project and how the synergy of our ideas creates something that no one person could create on their own.

How does synergy work for you? Has it been a positive or negative experience?

Family Fridays...SAY YES!

Today, I'm kicking off a new series here at Cheval Glass. There are so many challenges facing ministry leaders and none greater than raising children. Family Fridays will discuss our personal struggles, victories, and best practices. Please dialogue here with me and share your insights on family issues as it relates to being ministry leaders.

I feel like I say "NO" a lot as a parent. It really bugs me. I provide the structure and schedule for our family as a lot of moms do and the creative in me gets REALLY tired of having to always be the margin and boundary policeman for the Cullens!

Todd and I have Fridays off since our Sundays are so long.  We try to keep this day as free from routine and a schedule as possible so that we can just take a breath and truly have a Sabaath experience. So with my issues with saying "No" so much, I started a thing called "Say Yes Fridays." I make a conscious attempt to "say yes" to as much as I can on Fridays.  Being that my kids are seven and a half and almost five, they have not quite "caught-on" to this.  I don't make a big deal that it's "Say Yes Friday." I just have made a mental decision to do this on specific Fridays.

For example, I am headed to pick Sydney up from school very soon. It she gets in the car and asks me," Mom, can we get a Starbucks hot chocolcate?." My answer wil be YES! If Sean asks me for another cookie after he has already had two, I'm going to say YES!  This has made me feel so much more effective as parent to give myself permission to do this.

What is something that you do to give yourself permission to say yes? What is something you do to create "yes" moments as a parent?